Signs of Spring II

A month or six weeks ago Venus and Mars disappeared from the western horizon before dusk. Now driving home in the morning I see they have reappeared on the eastern horizon in the hour before dawn. Jupiter is a bit higher in the sky slightly to the south-east.

The greenbelt behind the house has been covered with flocks of robins. One day I stopped counting after I got as far as 25. A pair of stubborn mourning doves sat unmoving in the driveway as I arrived home yesterday morning. I continue to spot quite a number of hawks; mainly red-tails. This past week has seen the return of turkey vultures. Tonight while getting ready to come to work I heard Lynda hollering at me to come out to the yard. Thinking something must be wrong with one of the dogs I hustled out there only to find her pointing skyward. 'Check this out!' A group of three had passed directly overhead and soared to the eastern end of the greenbelt.... wheeled about back in our direction again and were joined by two more. They passed by again heading across the tracks and out over the golf course. None of them flapped a wing so much as once.

Today was the first day in awhile that the wind direction had changed from being out of the north. By the time I was up for the day the temperature was up around 50F and by dinner time perhaps 55F. I had heard the forecast driving home in the morning and got some steaks out for dinner. Good choice - first BBQ of the season before coming to work tonight. Daylight hours are lengthening and we must be up to about 13 hours now. The lawn is greening up; shoots are, well, shooting up all over the gardens. Irises, daffodils and tulips are in the offing. Some trees have plenty of buds; some are still awakening and are bare. Say goodbye to the fawn, dun and grey coloured landscape. Hello vivid hues. That might inspire me to dust off the camera and start shooting again.

What else?? Well, the frost has barely left the ground and I saw the first mosquito of the season last week. There are some other sorts of bugs out; moths and such. After one heavy rain early last week the driveway was alive with worms - little skinny ones, big fat dew worms - you couldn't put a foot down without stepping on one. The other night there was a tiny toad hopping around in back of the centre here. Passing some streams leading down into Lake Ontario I've seen some guys parked by the side of the road. They're either netting smelt or checking to see if the lake trout are running yet. A few larger rivers also get the lake salmon spawning runs. There are a few brave and foolish souls roaming around who are already sporting t-shirts, shorts and sandals - rushing things just a little bit, donch'ya think.

One more thing... folks are getting their vehicles out of winter storage. All the expensive muscle cars are reappearing; some classic cars; lots of motorcycles. Lots more bicycles and joggers have been getting out and about. Heads up; eyes front; hands on the 'ten and two'.

Signs of Spring

Lo and behold..... with all the snow we had I didn't expect to see the lawn until May.... but all our snow has gone except the crusty, icy stuff left in the deep shadowed ditches and woods. In both the front and back gardens bulbs have sprouted wee shoots an inch or so out of the soil. A few of our songbirds are back; cardinals have been around for a few weeks and robins have just arrived. There were a group of 10 or so jumping about on the greenbelt feeding this afternoon. Lots of chickadees and wrens take turns at the feeder. Although lots of geese winter over here their numbers appear to be increasing. Every brook, stream and river is rushing with run-off.

We've had a couple of mild days together so Lynda and I have spent some time in the yard picking up after the dogs and getting the yard raked. Milo, being part Jack Russell, is a digger and a chewer. The yard is still sporting craters from his digging efforts back in the fall. Through the winter he has pruned every shrub and tree branch that he could jump to - quite a height considering the depth of the snow we had. I swear his daddy must have been a beaver; not a dog at all. He eats as much wood as he does dog food.

Random Pic's

I have a few minutes on my hands here and thought a splash of colour would be a nice change. This first one is Freedom and Milo in the yard last winter when Milo was still a pup. He hasn't grown a great deal but is a little longer, a bit taller and has filled out and become more solid. Freedom is a husky / border collie mix. Milo's mom is a purebred Jack Russell but we don't know who daddy was.

I'm getting ahead of myself by a couple of months at least but I can't wait for vivid abundant colour and warm breezes.

Buddy is the younger of our two cats and although he isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer he does get along well with his playmates. To the point of being a willing pillow at times.

A Wee Bit Overdue....

Spring time, that is.....

Just a couple of weeks ago we were still freezing our butts off but we seem to have turned the corner now. Saturday evening driving to work was positively HOT!! There has been no time to adjust and let the blood thin. Mine is still the consistency of molasses, fer gawd sakes.

In these parts the very first flowers are blooming - crocuses and daffodils. Tulip stalks are up but I haven't seen any flowers as yet. Buds on the trees are appearing but actual leaves are a long way off. Everything is a good 2 to 3 weeks behind schedule this year.

Here is a sight for sore eyes - green grass!!! Haven't seen that since November when it turned brown; then it was buried for the duration in December with a thick blanket of snow. Awesome!

Yesterday following my service meeting I hooked up with Lynda for the balance of the afternoon, dinner and the evening. This morning I looked after Milo for a few hours and then came back to begin sorting and packing. (I have a very hard time deciding what I really need to keep and what is okay to ditch) I've made some headway; a start. This is break-time... such as it is... before I fire something up for dinner and head off to my regular meeting.

Lynda called awhile ago to see if I want join her driving way across the city tomorrow evening to surprise L'il O and take him out for dinner & have a visit. That's the best idea she's had in ..... a matter of hours. O's mom recently got him registered to start school in the fall. Lord, they get big in a hurry. It doesn't seem that long since he was being carried out of the delivery room for his introduction to 'the world'.

I should have enough time to check a few friend's blogs if I'm quick about it - gotta go.

Odds & Ends

Work for the week is over in a few hours; 70 some hours worth. I've taken it very easy last night and tonight; weary, weary. It's off to home and bed for a few hours and after a short sleep, back up to help Lynda with 'that' job.

When Owen and his parents went home Saturday Lynda jumped in the car and took off for a long overdue visit with her mom, Mother Mary. She's coming back around noon today and calling to wake me when she gets close.

Over a year ago I came down with one of these never-ending colds that I get. At that time my weight dropped below 140 lb and stayed there - usually varying by a couple of lb around the 135 mark. I'm just 12 days into this smoking 'quit' and my metabolism has begun to change already; I've gained weight!!!!! I'm over 140 again!!!! My system is undergoing some other sorts of adjustments to not smoking causing some funny / embarrassing situations that I needn't go into here. I just hope this isn't something that is going to last - the new normal??

We aren't experiencing any grossly overt signs of spring as yet. The weather has been fine lately - clear skies but cool temps making for a very controlled melt of the snowcover. I should have a chance to get out and about on foot.... maybe Wednesday ... to see what I can see in terms of 'spring' being on it's way. I know a couple of types of animals are coming out of hibernation; I've gagged passing by where skunks have been killed on the road. Gawdawful stench.

Yeah, my respite from work will be very short-lived. I get off at 6 this morning and my boss has asked me to be back for a day shift at 8 Monday morning.... and again Tuesday. No rest for the wicked and all that....

I'm going to have to do some research and reading up along the lines of 'Classical Music For Dummies'. CBC Radio 2 has been my constant companion lately and there are particular types of music writing that I don't understand a lot about. I've heard a few different 'requiems' just recently - Faure's, Webber's, Verdi's, Brahm's - all very different, very powerful, emotionally loaded..... Like I said I need to study up in order to understand it all better, how it fits, it's structure, it's place. ?? Calling Miss Music Nerd ??

Here, once again, for your listening pleasure: http://www.cbc.ca/radio2/. Go ahead - listen live. Check out the updated Concerts On Demand pages.

On Arising.....

Here is the view that greeted me as I hit the bottom of the stairs today when I got up. Too nice a day, with all that sunlight streaming in the windows, to be sleeping it away. Gotta sleep sometime though.

I liked the two contrasting sunlit areas. One very structured with the shadows of the blinds creating regular bars. The other with its organic random shapes from the foliage of the various plants.

I would really like to get a higher, wider, deeper credenza piece for in front of the window so that things can be spaced out a little better...... but looking down on this crush is sort of interesting too, doncha think? (and no, that isn't a marijuana plant in the lower left; it's a money tree.)

Last night I didn't bother to write as I was overtired and not in a very good mood. Right now I need to get cleaned up and beat it out of here. Owen and his parents are supposed to be at the house for a brief visit and I'm dying to see the little (big) guy before I go to work later on tonight.

Oh, I received yet another wonderfully supportive email today from a friend in regard to my having quit smoking and for that I'm truly grateful. A terrific thing to wake up to and start the day with. I'm glad you're happy for me......